


Dust and Dedication

by Blankets



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, But He Gets Better, Dusttale Sans (Undertale), Eventual Smut, F/M, Human/Monster Society, Jealous Sans (Undertale), Papyrus (Undertale) Knows More Than He Lets On, Possessive Sans (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader is female/feminine, Sans (Undertale) Has Issues, Soul Bond, Specism, Trauma, Yandere Sans (Undertale), dub-con, even Reader, eventually, hate to love relationship, one-sided, probably not good tho, sans has much more hp and atk, sans has pp I'm sorry, sans is bad, tentative mate plot, we are all thirsty for sans, we'll see if it matters on the surface
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:07:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25292908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blankets/pseuds/Blankets
Summary: The time loop has finally ended and everything is back the way it should be — except for sans. His sins still haunt him, even on the surface.A chance encounter becomes something much more complicated. You're stuck with him, a dangerous monster who can't decide whether he wants to kill or protect you.With his soul in your hands, can you heal the scars ingrained so deep within him?*rated M just in case ;)
Relationships: Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 48
Kudos: 154





	1. (Intro) Downpour

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT: sans in this work is a mix of dusttale and regular sans! you will see why soon~
> 
> It's not going to be super depressing, I hope. I can't put Papyrus in the middle of a sad story after all.
> 
> This was birthed from dusttale sans fanart, plus I've always been a fan.

**Dusttale Sans by dupsmj9610 on deviantart**

xxxxx

Red haunts his nightmares.

Bones.

Blood.

Dust.

The screams. He couldn't tell whose they were anymore. Was he screaming? No. Not unless it was Papyrus that was…

The downpour pelts against his bones, loud and unforgiving—almost like karmic retribution. He could stand here for weeks on end, hoping the rain would never stop —

But Papyrus would be worried.

"right, bro?" He asked him.

No answer.

Of course not, Paps was home. Cooking spaghetti. Safe. Alive.

Not here, not behind his head, whispering into his ear holes.

He's not sure how long he's been standing here. Minutes melt into hours, but he couldn't bring himself to move from this spot. Standing here outside of the cave, he remembered the bleeding sunset he saw that day.

His friends were by his side, including Frisk. Especially Frisk, and not _whoever else_.

It's been months since the RESET. The Final one, he Hopes every single night. He can take remembering everything that came before the RESET, all his failures and sins, if it meant that everyone he cared about was alive.

Nights like these always hit him the hardest, and he could only keep up acting like he used to for so long. He's reminded every time he sees his reflection—the red-rimmed white pupils staring back at him.

Could he live like this?

Papyrus isn't an idiot. He's noticed the change, but he's chosen to treat him the same, and sans is so grateful for it. But could he keep it up, living as a shadow of the monster he used to be?

He doesn't even remember who he used to be, really.

A twig snaps exactly 11 meters away, and he's already there, his presence erased behind a tree.

The unlucky cause of that noise was you, the unfortunate soul who tripped on a stupid twig because you were running for your life.

Your body collided with the ground hard, and you couldn't even focus on the pain with the fear pumping in your veins. You had to get up, but it felt like the hardest task in the world with how comfortable you felt on the ground.

You had run for possibly hours now.

They probably heard you fall and yelp, and you didn't have enough energy to out run them if they noticed you.

God, why did everything have to go wrong today?

Both of your part-timers couldn't work today, leaving you to man the tavern by yourself. Most of the customers that came were the sleazy ones, and you dreaded every second of having to put up with them. And then, some of them were human traffickers who waited until closing time to kidnap you.

You saw their car parked a little ways off from your own. You realized that they'd get to you before you'd get to your car, so you made a mad dash for it.

You couldn't even call the police because you could barely outrun them, the only thing saving you was your fear of being caught.

Now you were in a forest on Mt. Ebott, where there was no service and no living person within a mile radius. If they caught you here, you were done for.

But then again even if you lost them, you were lost.

Then you felt it—a chill down your spine.

For a second you panicked, thinking they had finally caught up to you, but it wasn't them.

A monster stood in front of you, its head obscured by the shadow of its hood. Its calves, the only part of it you could see, were made of bones.

Even with its face shadowed, you couldn't miss the glowing circles in them, two red ovals, one surrounded by a purple smoke crackling like lightning.

The way it stared at you made you shrink, but you swallowed and steel yourself up. You were going to die otherwise, or either way.

"Please help me," you begged. No reaction, but you couldn't stop now. "I'm being chased. Don't tell them you saw me if—"

But it was too late.

"She's right there!" You heard one of your pursuers shout.

You push yourself up, only to topple down again when your legs wobble underneath you.

"Run," you tell the monster. "They might try to take you too, so just run while I distract them."

It was a stupid move, but this was your mess and your bad luck. If you couldn't find a way out, you'd just go down alone.

"There's someone there," a pursuer says. They sound much closer now. "Oh shit, it's a monster!"

Two more voices replied, but you stopped listening. The monster stood its ground as if it didn't hear you. Maybe it was confused?

You hissed, "go!"

The red ovals flicker away from your face to somewhere behind you.

"Get outta here, freakshow. Unless you want to end up with your head on display in some weirdo's house," a pursuer says.

You muster up the strength to turn around and glare at them.

"I'd rather die than let you fuckers take me," you spit.

Their grins made your stomach churn.

"You've got a price dead or alive, sweetie," they taunt, "what a creepy motherfucker though. What do you think we should do with it?"

Another man clicks his teeth. "Monsters belong in the circus. No one's gonna pay any decent price for it."

You grit your teeth. They were so full of it, as if you being kidnapped was a done deal. You wouldn't go down without a fight though. As soon as they get close, you'd smash their skull with a rock. Or you would have, if you had any strength left in your body.

"don't look."

The voice sends a shudder down your spine as something cold and bony covers blocks your vision.

You hear a sound you've never heard before. Then you hear surprised screams, flesh tear, pained screams, then… silence.

You were shaking now. You could guess what happened.

"keep your eyes closed," it said.

The voice was a deep, honey-like baritone that sounded distinctly male. You should have been scared, but you were calmer than you've been in awhile.

"I guess you killed them," you mutter.

His fingers left your eyes, but you kept them shut. You didn't want to see the aftermath anyway. They might have been trying to kidnap you, but you rather not see corpses.

He killed those guys in a second while all you managed to do was run. Your consciousness told you that he didn't have to resort to murder, but you silenced that voice.

He didn't reply, but you continue speaking.

"Thank you," you say, collapsing back on the ground in relief.

Oh, it had been raining. You hadn't even noticed until now. You were soaked to the bone, but the dirt was much softer from the rain water. You felt all your energy seep out, and the urge to never get up was getting stronger by the second.

"It's so comfortable… I might just lay here for a while," you hear yourself say.

Had you been in your right mind, you would have known that you could have died from staying like this, but your right mind was still at the tavern.

With your eyes still closed, you could feel yourself drifting off. Why were you so comfortable?

"get up or you'll die," he said.

His voice had no right to sound to be so calming. It felt like a blanket was being put over your cold, soaking body. You mumbled something that you couldn't remember, before allowing yourself to drift off.

Sans stood there for a second, listening to the hum of your heart. It had been speeding when he found you, then gradually slowing down. He could barely hear it over the sound of the rain.

His eyelights scan over the three dead humans. It's been so long since he's killed a human, and he's never killed one on the surface before—surprisingly. But he couldn't ignore how natural it felt when his bones pierced through their flesh.

Humans were so fragile.

His eyelights came back to your face. You were out cold. If he left you here, you'd definitely die. He didn't care whether you died or not, but something in him told him to save you.

Did he retain any of his MERCY? No, that couldn't have been it. It was something else, something he should really figure out.

Something that was leaving your chest.

A bright rose* soul escaped your body hovering above you. It was fading in color, pulsating with desperation. He shouldn't be looking at your soul like this, but he's never seen a soul escape of its own will.

He realized it was speaking to him, or rather, his soul realized. An emptiness filtered through him as he felt his soul escape his body.

What was going on?

His soul, a upside-down heart white heart riddled with cracks, hovered in front of him. He reached out to pull it back, but it evaded his phalanges.

He didn't know why, but your soul has called his own out. Maybe since you were going to die, this was a last attempt to save yourself.

Why his crumbling, dirty soul answered was beyond him, but his natural curiosity let it go without too much fight.

As if sensing his acquisition, your fading soul moved closer to his. Right then he realized what was going to happen and reached out to stop it.

But he was a beat too late, because the souls had touched.

A warmth almost burning enveloped him and if he were a weaker monster, he would have collapsed. Instead, his phalanges gripped the dirt to keep himself upright.

The souls melted into one another, becoming one soul, then slowly separating. Your soul was no longer faded and his own was dyed with bright rose on the bottom, as if someone had poured paint into it.

He grit his teeth, grabbing his soul and forcing it back into him, ignoring the pain when his phalanges gripped too tight. He grabbed your soul as well, warm and purring in his grip, and forced it back into your body.

The damage was done. His soul had _bonded_ with yours—a practice that had been stopped hundreds of years ago, practice that had never involved humans.

Should he just kill you here?

He couldn't deal with being bonded with a disgusting human, much less one he didn't know. If he killed you, he wouldn't have to, right?

But then he'd die too.

_Fuck this._

He teleported the both of you out of there. He ended up in his own living room, bringing with him about a gallon of rainwater dripping off his bones and a fainted human on the ground beside him.

This scene was taken in by Papyrus, who had been preparing dinner.

"SANS!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!"


	2. His Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bone brothers... brothers who happen to be made of bone. 
> 
> You're not welcome here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I didn’t realize so many people would enjoy the first chapter ^///^ that said, this chapter was a monster (lol) to write. editing took so long that I'm surprised I even finished lol but I refuse to work on this chapter any longer, not when I could be working on the next one ^^
> 
> Headcanon for sans’s voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJEA0RlVUsI
> 
> just imagining it makes me shfhshfhshsh

xxxxx 

_A skeleton walks into a bar…_

_“heya, grillbz,” he says._

_The fire elemental crackles in greeting, emitting a warm light like a fireplace. He beams against the cold, empty atmosphere._

He pauses in polishing the glassware to greet his patron with a crackle of his flames. 

_…_

_Sans shrugs. “yeah, just about everyone’s gone to the surface.”_

_Grillby places a bottle of ketchup and a plate in front of Sans. The skeleton’s eyes linger on the bottle before twirling it in his phalanges. He dumps some on the plate._

_…_

_“me? don’t feel like leaving yet.”_

_A bony fingertip touches the ketchup, swirling it on the plate._

_“what about you, grillbz?”_

_Grillby’s flames flicker sadly._

_“really? i don’t have much nostalgia for this place.”_

_…_

_“changed…? me?” His fingers stilled in the ketchup. “dunno what you mean, buddy.”_

_…._

_Sans’s red-rimmed eyelights flick up to the friend he’s dusted in so many timelines. His red-stained fingertip taps the countertop._

_"... guys like me can't always take it easy, ya see."_

_…_

_"i'll see you around, grillbz. c'mon paps, let's head out."_

_Grillby watches as he exits, speaking quietly to someone that isn't there._

xxxxx

Sans was late—as usual. So Papyrus kept his spaghetti cooking while he waited. 

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long until the familiar sound of Sans's shortcut. 

His brother stood in the living room, casual and agitated all at once, but not with a speck of guilt for bringing both the rainwater and an unconscious human onto Papyrus’s newly vacuumed carpet.

The taller skeleton gaped, jaw unhinged so far it was a wonder it was still on his face.

"SANS!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!" 

Papyrus could not believe his eyes… He let his brother keep that pet rock once, and now suddenly he brings a _human_?!

“YOU CRAZYBONES!!! PUT THAT HUMAN BACK WHERE YOU FOUND IT!!!!”

Sans put his hands up in surrender, expecting a sound scolding. “paps, listen— “

But Papyrus was too righteously affronted. 

“NO, YOU LISTEN!!! THE PET ROCK WAS ONE THING, BUT A HUMAN, SANS?! YOU WERE THERE WHEN THE HUMAN KING SAID TO STAY AWAY FROM THEIR FEMALES… FOR SOME REASON!!”

Only the mention of that event tightened Sans’s smile. He wished he hadn’t been there when that stupid piece of… But that wasn’t the point right now. He reeled in his temper. 

“... it’s not what it looks like,” he sighed.

Papyrus gestured wildly at your unconscious body. “IT LOOKS LIKE A HUMAN IN OUR LIVING ROOM!!!!”

“heh. well, i stand corrected,” he teased, his smile quirking upwards. It dropped back down as he grudgingly focused back on you. “she’s going to freeze to death at this rate, paps. i’ll tell you the situation afterwards, k?”

The sentiment tasted bitter, even though he had no qualms with death. If you died, he would die as well, but that wouldn't have made him uncomfortable. 

It was the soulbond, whispering in his subconscious, telling him that he should care, that he _already did_. 

Sans didn't have the patience for shitty sentiments forced on him. He'd sooner smash his soul like a grape then have to be a whimpering idiot pandering to a worthless human. 

Papyrus didn't notice the boiling rage of his brother. This scenario though unexpected, was not unwelcome!

Recently, Sans disdain for humanity had somehow ripened into a fresh hatred. Papyrus had worried for his brother, who seemed like he would get himself in trouble by doing something impulsive, something he couldn't take back. 

But now that you were here, his fears were quelled! He saved a human on his own. That was enough for Papyrus to know that the old Sans (the less crazy one) was still in there somewhere. 

He wasn't going to give Sans any leeway to change his mind. 

“DON’T WORRY, BROTHER. NOW THAT I AM ON THE JOB, THIS HUMAN WILL BE FINE.”

“course, paps. we should change her out of this,” he said, nodding to the white blouse and black trousers soaked to you like a second skin. A work uniform. 

He ignored the clear outline of your undergarments. 

Papyrus didn't even think twice. “THAT IS NOTHING!” 

He shambled over eagerly, reaching for the buttons of your blouse, but paused.

“UHM, SANS? HOW CAN I CHANGE HER IF YOU ARE HOLDING ONTO MY HAND?”

Holding onto…? 

He couldn't believe his eyes. His traitorous hand was wrapped around Papyrus's wrist in a vice grip. When did he even do that? 

“CRAZYBONES…” Papyrus muttered, extracting his wrist from San’s grip.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. Could he just kill you right here? He could distract Papyrus, and then… Then he'd probably have to rip off the chunk of his soul that was corrupted by yours. 

No, he couldn't lose himself in anger now. Not in front of Papyrus. 

Outwardly he chuckled, playing it off as nothing. “don’t worry about it, bro. you can get the clothes, i’ll change the human.”

Papyrus’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. He straightened, crossing his arms over his chest. “I FIND IT _QUITE UNUSUAL_ THAT A LAZYBONES LIKE YOURSELF WOULD BE SO ADAMANT TO DO SOMETHING REQUIRING EFFORT.”

Sans’s chuckle turned sheepish, and he sunk into his hoodie. 

He considered what he could even say. _hey, bro. i soulbonded with this human and it makes me feel like i'll have to break your arm off if you attempt to undress her in front of me_.

He doubted that would go over well. 

His brother, on the other hand, smoothly ignored all these strange bouts of behavior from Sans. He was always involved in mysterious and troublesome things. Papyrus didn't even want to know what was going on, or else he might be pulled into a mess he had no desire to clean up. 

Still, something in his bones told him that he shouldn't let Sans change the human, not with the way his red-rimmed eyes shifted around guiltily. 

“... IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER, I WILL CLOSE MY EYES. I AM A GENTLEBONES, AFTER ALL."

Only some of the tension left Sans's shoulders, but he'd have to cooperate at least that much. He was already drawing suspicion.

“mmkay, bro. i’ll get some clothes.”

He knew Papyrus had no strange intentions or interest, but the voice from his soul(?) screamed at him against it. 

He wouldn't ever doubt Papyrus, ancient magic or whatever be damned.

He never studied monster lore in-depth. To him, who had much more important research and studies to deal with, they sounded like children's fairy tales. He'd have to see what Alphys knew about it. He didn't doubt she was an expert on all things wishy-washy. 

He grabbed some clean clothes from his closet. He'd think about that tomorrow, when he could meet her. 

While he didn't want you to wear his clothes, he definitely couldn't let you wear Papyrus's. He wasn't sure how strong of an affect the bond had, but if he ended up attacking Papyrus or something… Better to not even leave the smallest possibility. 

He lit up the fireplace with his magic as he passed by. 

Papyrus was too preoccupied with trying to dress you with his eyes closed to notice the suddenly burning fireplace. 

Sans didn't bother looking at you as his brother changed you. He wasn't curious at all, and even he wasn't low enough to take advantage of your state to peek. 

He didn't have to avoid it for long. 

“VIOLA!” 

“voila, you mean?”

“NO, I SAID WHAT I SAID. I HAVE DRESSED THE HUMAN SKILLFULLY," he announced haughtily, as if he hadn't had the hardest time with it. "NOW THAT I AM FINISHED, I WANT AN EXPLANATION AS WHY THIS HUMAN IS HERE."

Sans cautioned to look at you. His clothes were too large for your frame, and the shirt was on backwards. 

He thought about the best way to explain, then settled on, “i found it."

Papyrus groaned. “SANS!!!”

“yeah, bro?”

Papyrus gave him a stern glare that promised righteous retribution if he didn't answer seriously. 

Not wanting to have anymore charred spaghetti than strictly mandatory, he gave in. 

“ok, ok. i saved her from some … bad people.” 

“AND?” Papyrus pressed.

“'n brought her here to dry," he finished with a smug grin. 

Papyrus face-palmed. 

Sans had been aggressively vague even since they were baby bones. Papyrus had learned to tolerate it, but moments like these made him want to wring his brother's stupid neck. 

What Papyrus got from this was that you had been in danger and happened upon his brother. Sans, out of the… "goodness" of his soul, decided to save you and bring you here. 

“EVEN THOUGH I WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE YOU WOULD HELP A HUMAN IN TROUBLE OUT OF THE OKAY-NESS OF YOUR SOUL, I DO NOT THINK THAT IS THE CASE. NO OFFENSE, BROTHER.”

It was an astute observation. 

“none taken, paps.”

Once upon a time, Papyrus would have never questioned Sans helping a human. Sans liked to think that he's gotten wiser since then. 

“SO YOU ADMIT THAT THERE ARE OTHER SECRET AND NOT-GOOD REASONS WHY YOU SAVED THIS HUMAN?”

He shrugged, knowing he didn't even need to answer that one. 

Papyrus was surprisingly quick on the uptake on things like this. Sometimes Sans thought he knew way more than he let on, but chose to act ignorant. His brother really was so cool. 

"we should call you _sherlock bones_ , bro," he praised. 

Papyrus chest puffed at the compliment, but he quickly checked himself. 

“DO NOT CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!!”

His loud voice had broken through your awakening consciousness. You were forced up from what felt like the worst nap you've ever had. 

Your underwear was wet, this wasn't your uniform… and where were you? 

The memories poured back: you were running from these guys and you ran into… red eyes, purple smoke, and a husky voice. The men who chased you were… 

You bolted upwards, catching the attention of the two monsters. 

You gawked at them, not sure of what you were even looking at. 

A very tall, lanky skeleton loomed over you. He was wearing a superhero(?) suit over a fitted black body-suit that you guess covered his entire skeleton. He had a long face and a square jaw, with small eyes not like a human skeleton's. 

Seeing him up close, you realized they weren't human skeletons, they were monsters made of bone. 

The one in a blue hoodie and black shorts, a shorter skeleton with a slightly more human-like appearance, was the one you recognize from the mountain. 

His face was rounder than the other's. His skull structure looked more human, except for how large his abyss-like eyeholes were and the round grin on his face. 

The lights in his eyes were bright red, staring you down like you were a bug he hadn't bothered to squash yet. 

The taller one was the complete opposite, looking at you like you were the most exciting toy in the toy store. 

“WOWIE, I NURSED HER BACK TO HEALTH SO QUICKLY!!!” He exclaimed, rushing over to you.

You reflectively recoiled, his huge frame making you feel smaller than you were. Thankfully, he noticed and caught himself. 

He cleared his throat loudly. 

“HELLO, HUMAN. I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND THIS IS MY CRAZY- I MEAN LAZYBONES BROTHER, SANS!!!”

His first impression was of a gentle giant, if a little funny-acting. He seemed harmless. His brother, however, looked anything but harmless.

Wasn't he your lifesaver?

“Hi,” you said, testing your voice. It was hoarse, but not as bad as you expected. “My name is F/N. Thank you guys for helping me."

You glanced around their house. It looked like a cottage… They didn't kidnap you here, right? Monsters didn't have any reason to kidnap humans probably. 

“Where am I?” You asked Papyrus.

He straightened, putting his hands on his hip bones. There was a comically proud expression on his face. 

"YOU, F/N, ARE AT THE AWESOME ABODE OF I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS. FEW HUMANS ARE ABLE TO BRAG ABOUT COMING TO A COOL PLACE LIKE THIS… BUT IF YOU KNOW ANY THAT WANT TO, YOU MAY EXTEND AN INVITATION!!!! I HAVE LOTS OF SPAGHETTI!" 

You giggled at his funny speech, but sobered up when you caught the cold gaze of his brother. 

Sans hadn't said a word, but he stole your attention anyway. He was quiet, but you were pretty sure it was because he didn't like you. Still, there was something about him that set off your curiosity. 

You wanted to see how he'd react. 

“Thank you, Sans."

He didn't expect you to speak to him directly, since he'd been going out of his way to be unfriendly. His grin tilted up slightly, in a way that told you you'd be better off shutting up. 

You remembered the screams of the men he killed on the mountain more clearly. 

"you're welcome, bud," he said, his tone neutral and pleasant. 

So that was what he was playing at. Papyrus was none the wiser to this silent exchange between you two, and something told you that it was better for you that way. 

There was suddenly a burning smell, then a popping noise and clamor coming from the kitchen, startling Papyrus out of his excitement. 

"OH MY GOD!!! I FORGOT MY SPAGHETTI! SANS, WATCH THE HUMAN, I MUST SAVE THE PASTA."

Did Papyrus just sign your death warrant, or were you just overreacting? Even though he hadn’t really done anything yet, being alone with him—

When did he get in front of you?

Red eyes stared into yours, searching for something. You didn’t know what it was, and it looked like he couldn’t find it either.

His hand reached for your face. It was all phalanges and carpals, and much larger than you expected. 

He tilted your chin up.

"why are you scared?" He asked. 

The rumble of his voice sent a strange feeling to your stomach that wasn’t in the least unpleasant. 

_What’s wrong with me? He didn’t even do anything…_

But thoughts of hearing his voice closely in a different situation invaded your mind and your cheeks turned pink at the thought.

Sans’s brow bone furrowed. He was close enough to see the way your soul hummed, or rather… your soul wanted him to see. 

Realization dawned in his eyelights. 

"you're a sick freak, huh?" 

The flush reached your ears. You pried his hand off and looked away, refusing to meet his eyes any longer.

“D-Don’t touch me,” you said.

He chuckled mirthlessly, putting his hands up in mock surrender. The look in his eyes turned sharp, and his grin flipped into a scowl. He grabbed your shoulder roughly, forcing you to look back at him. Your heartbeat took off in fear this time.

“if you start getting ideas, _you’re gonna wish i let them take you, kid_.”

And then he was across the room, in the spot he was in when Papyrus was there. His expression was pleasant, as if he hadn’t just threatened you over nothing. His eyes were no longer on you, and you belatedly realized that Papyrus was talking.

"SANS, YOU ARE A TERRIBLE HOST. AT LEAST INTERACT WITH F/N!!”

“k, bro.” His gaze slid back to you lazily, almost mockingly. “what’s wrong, kid? you look like you’ve seen a ghost… and liked it.”

Your mouth dropped. He was making fun of you!

“T-That's not funny,” you replied stupidly. 

“YES… I AGREE WITH F/N. EVEN FOR YOU, SANS, THAT WAS VERY UNFUNNY.”

Sans shrugged. “guess’m not very _humerous_ today.”

Papyrus groaned. “YOU HAVEN’T MADE A BAD JOKE IN MONTHS AND IT’S TODAY THAT YOU WANT TO EMBARRASS ME IN FRONT OF A GUEST?!?!?!”

"looks like someone's _funny bone_ is broken." 

"UGH!!! FOR YOUR INFO, ALL MY BONES ARE IN PERFECT SHAPE AND ARE RIDICULOUSLY STRONG."

"yeah, you're right. you got me there." 

You couldn't help yourself. You covered your mouth but a snort came through. 

San’s gaze turned cold again as he looked back at you.

“... by the way, don’tcha think people are worried about your whereabouts by now?”

Which you roughly translated into you've overstayed your welcome by just his eyes alone. Weren’t you kind of good at reading him?

You decided that maybe you were too good, and that meant you’ve been here for way too long.

Almost grateful, you played along. “Yeah, my… roommate must be worried sick about me. I should go soon.” Sans’s eyes narrowed minutely. “I mean, now. Right now.”

“OH… THAT IS UNFORTUNATE.” Papyrus said, deflating like a balloon. “FOR YOU, OF COURSE. MANY HAVE SAID MY PASTA IS THE MOST MEMORABLE THEY HAVE EVER HAD. BUT YOU HAVE HAD GREAT LUCK IN MEETING ME, SO I THINK YOU WILL BE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO TASTE IT SOMEDAY— THAT IS, IF YOU WANT TO BECOME… FRIENDS WITH US?”

He gave you a puppy-dog look (that he was way too good at, for some reason) and you could already feel the guilt creeping up. Sans might have been less-than-hospitable, but Papyrus had been nothing but a sweetheart since you’ve woken up. You didn’t want to hurt his feelings… any more than you had to, else you risk whatever Sans had in store for people who didn’t listen to him.

Besides, you could understand why a monster would want to be your friend. Humankind hadn’t been accepting of monsterkind when they surfaced, so Papyrus must have wanted to prove that monsters weren’t anything you had to be scared of. You knew his options were limited, since most people didn’t even want to be in the same room as a monster.

You did want to be his friend. He seemed sweet. His brother, well, you’ve tasted raw coffee beans sweeter than him. Still, there was something (besides his voice, ahem… ) that made you want to know more about him. You wanted his attention, even if it was just him glaring at you. 

Did you like him? Could you even fall in… like… at first sight with a monster?

You must have hit your head back on Mt. Ebott. 

Still, it wouldn't hurt to try. “Of course I’ll be your friend, Papyrus!” You said. Of course, Sans’s glare was already starting to hurt, so you were wrong immediately, but you couldn’t win them all.

Papyrus’s giant smile was enough of a balm for you to overlook that, though.

“WOWIE!!! I MADE A HUMAN FRIEND SO EASILY. SANS, DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS MEANS?”

Sans took a little more time to reel himself in this time. You must have really pissed him off. You had to give him credit though, no one would have guessed he’d ever threaten anyone in his life.

“... dunno. what, bro?”

“OBVIOUSLY, IT MEANS THAT I AM POPULAR!!! I WILL HAVE ENDLESS FRIENDS AND THEY WILL SHOWER ME WITH KISSES EVERY MORNING AND LIKE ALL MY POSTS!!!”

You chuckled. Was that his definition of popularity? “I’ll try my best to give you kisses and like all your posts,” you teased.

He blushed and laughed nervously, as if realizing what he said. His reaction however, did not hold a candle to his brother’s. 

Sans whipped his head towards you, eyelights disappearing.

You could hear alarm bells in your head telling you that you had really done it this time. It felt like time had stopped and you were just counting the seconds until he decided whether your short existence was over or not.

“SANS, WHY ARE YOU SCARING MY NEW FRIEND?!?!?!” Papyrus scolded, breaking the tension. 

His eyelights returned as quickly as they left. You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. 

“sorry, bro. her **j o k e w a s s o u n f u n n y** that i couldn’t believe my… eyes.” 

Yep, his eyelights definitely left again in the middle of that sentence, effectively giving you a mini heart attack.

But then he went back to normal right after... Now that you weren’t worried about your mortality, you realized he got so angry over nothing, again! What was his problem with you, anyway? You hadn’t done anything that would justify his behavior. 

“ALRIGHT… YOU WEIRDO.” He glanced back and forth in exasperation, then proceeded to ignore what had just transpired. “AHEM. AS I WAS SAYING, I WILL MAKE EVEN MORE SPAGHETTI NEXT TIME, AND IT WILL BE LESS BURNT THAN USUAL BECAUSE HUMANS CANNOT HANDLE THAT AMOUNT OF FLAVOR, I SUPPOSE.”

Papyrus seemed genuinely happy to be your friend. His excitement must have been contagious because Sans’s gaze softened looking at him.

You were struck by the fact that Sans could even look like that. You had only known him for an hour and he was confusing you more than any guy you had ever met. 

Wait, why were you even comparing him to other men? He was a literal monster!

His gaze slid over to you, and you could have been offended by how quickly the softness left them. Was it your imagination, or was it even chillier than usual?

He wasn’t going to scare you off though. If he was going to kill you, he could have just left you to die back on the mountain, right?

Their cuckoo clock (or what you assumed was the monster equivalent of that) chimed. You gaped at the time. You actually had to get home, like hours ago. If you called a cab now, you would only have a few hours of sleep before your shift starts tomorrow.

You grabbed the pile of your clothes, checking for your phone. “I’m sorry, I really have to get home now. I’ll see you two around, Papyrus… Sans.” You said, already ordering a ride home. 

“OF COURSE YOU WILL, F/N. WE ARE FRIENDS NOW AND FRIENDS HAVE TO ‘HANG OUT’, NYEHEHEHEH!” 

Sans said nothing, but watched you leave with rapt attention. You felt his burning gaze and decided to give him one last glance, your eyes warm with challenge. You weren’t going to be cowed by him.

You left, closing the door behind you.

Papyrus waited a beat, then turned to his brother.

“SHE DID NOT GIVE US A PHONE NUMBER,” he observed, voice laced with unease.

Sans was distracted, but gave a half-hearted reply.

“don’t worry, bro. you know how humans are.”

“YOU ARE RIGHT. HUMANS ARE FORGETFUL. PROBABLY. WAS FRISK FORGETFUL?” 

Sans didn’t even hear that one. He pulled out his cell, texting Alphys to expect him first thing tomorrow. 

That little stunt you pulled— no, he wouldn't think about that right now. He was already getting grief from his soul for letting you leave. It wasn't safe for you to travel alone at this time, it warned him. 

He almost laughed at the irony. 

The only real danger you faced was him, especially once this bond was broken. He'd like to see you try to pull what you did today after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was soooo difficult for no reason whatsoever! That said, leave a kudo/+ comment to make me feel better hahaha
> 
> Next time on D&D: Sans deals with some... anatomy issues.


	3. Truth vs. Sanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peace was never an option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm alive! I had writer's block on this chapter, so I basically gave up on it until October came around and I found my muse again. This had gone through numerous drafts (even though it's supposed to be a CASUAL story oml). I'm pretty excited to share this bc the last couple of edits were a struggle tbh.
> 
> Warning: violence

Sans weaved through the crowd with practiced precision. He took care to move at speeds humans were capable of, but it didn’t look like it mattered. None of them were paying attention to their surroundings. 

Not for the first time, he had a hard time coming to terms that these brainless flesh-bags were the ones who trapped his people Underground, who had the audacity to come Underground afterwards and attack his people. Humans had a lot of audacity. 

Sans knew he had to stop thinking about it then and there. He was prone to “slip-ups” these days. After the Incident, and with the injuries on his soul, he was less in control of his emotions than before. The stagnant mana in the Underground kept his own magic stable, but up here there was nothing to carry his magic. If he slipped and revealed to the humans here that he was a monster, he wouldn’t trust himself to not cause a scene. Or a corpse, whichever came first.

He carried a paper bag full of packaged noodles and other miscellaneous things he had bought. He’d pick the groceries up, leave the exact amount in cash on the counter, and leave before the merchant could take a good look at him. No one cared as long as long as they got the money. Humans were like that. 

Still, this errand had taken much longer than he expected. 

His brother was the only monster he knew of that was so good at writing that he was bad. Papyrus always liked writing in capital letters, and recently he had picked up a penchant for cursive (because they reminded him of spaghetti, he’d said). That was all well and fine, but this cursive was so… curly that Sans had no idea what half of it had said. 

What was worse was that the only line he could read clearly said “GREEN VEGETABLES.” Sans had a feeling that Papyrus didn’t know that many, many vegetables were green. He wouldn’t fight it, though. He’d get one of every green veggie he saw, and hoped it wouldn’t break their budget.

He was in no mood for figuring things out after his talk with Alphys… The thought of it soured his mood further.

_“I-It’s unusual of you to be interested in these things, Sans,” she said. “N-Not that you can’t be! You can!!!”_

_He waited wordlessly._

_“Umm… right, soulbonds! W-What do you want to know? Or, what do you already know?” She asked, going through her bookshelves and pulling out some worn tomes._

_Sans knew he couldn’t reveal anything about his bond, but he knew little about it otherwise. He didn’t have the patience to sit through one of her monologues though. His..._ morning _issues left him with little tolerance for any other problems today._

_“when two souls bond, they follow each other in life and death,” he said, repeating the little he read about it from who-knows-how-long ago._

_“Oh! Um, that’s… not very much,” His eye sockets narrowed minutely, and she balked. “No worries! I can tell you every— “_

_“shorten it, yeah?”_

_“Yeah… “ Alphys agreed hesitantly, looking like she had something to say. She opened her mouth, but promptly shut it, shaking her head dismissively. “Well, a soulbond is somewhat similar to A/B/O mating.” Seeing Sans look at her blankly, she flushed. “S-s-sorry, I should have known you wouldn’t know what that is.”_

_She took a few seconds to mutter nervously, but continued. “I-It’s like, uhm, the soul with a higher mana capacity protects the weaker soul, to ensure its survival back when monsterkind first was sent Underground. The stronger soul takes a piece of the weaker soul. T-That piece let’s the stronger soul recognize the weaker soul easily and know it needs to protect it, since any harm done to the weaker soul extends to the stronger one through that merge.”_

_“U-Unfortunately, it comes with a lot of setbacks, which is why it was banned since the forming of a governmental structure. The behavioral changes—”_

_“what changes, exactly?” Sans pressed._

_“The stronger… no, I’ll just call it Alpha, and the weaker soul Omega to simplify things. T-These aren’t the scientific terms so don’t t-tell anyone I used them, o-okay?” Sans shrugged. “T-The Alpha soul has the most changes. Since monsters are naturally peaceful, the soulbond makes the Alpha soul more territorial and aggressive.”_

_He couldn’t help scoffing._

_“Both souls have an attachment to each other, but the Alpha’s attachment is shown more because it's the protector. The Omega’s instinct is to be protected and tends to listen and follow its partner’s words.”_

_That must have not applied to humans, he mused bitterly._

_“can the bond be broken?”_

_Alphys paused for far longer than Sans was comfortable with. Finally, she grabbed one of the tomes, thumbed through the pages frantically, then upon landing on her desired page, shook her head._

_“T-There haven’t been any recorded attempts. Soulbonds were rare even back then, and the souls usually bonded for good reason," she said._

_He knew how she acted when she withheld information. "alphys…" He warned._

_She gulped. "T-t-theoretically, there is a way…" She hesitated before continuing. "T-The Omega soul can relinquish the bond in… n-near death, in order to spare the Alpha soul from the same fate."_

Everything she said after that, he had no interest in.

Breaking the bond with you meant you had to know about the bond. That went against everything he had planned.

He knew there was no way he could hurt you to that extent, but could he even stand to watch you get hurt? He suspected the bond was stronger than he had seen so far. 

The cognitive dissonance was wearing on him. Every part of him was at odds with his soul, and it felt like he might attack himself at some point.

You were the most problematic existence for him at this point, so it would be no inconvenience if you were gone. Still, he could say that for just about anyone, barring Paps, of course.

The attachments he had to his friends, his people, his values only got dimmer by the day. They were so far gone from the blood-red determination he had when he threw away his morals for the chance at saving them.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to rebuild those bonds. This was the burden he decided to shoulder when he chose his path. It was better for them to distance from him, the remnants of an already mediocre existence. He’d rather they ended the relationship believing he was the same monster he had always been, even though he hardly remembered that monster.

Only his brother kept him there, standing on the thin boundary of sanity and the dark abyss on the opposite side.

He had to get home to Papyrus soon. He was thinking about useless things again being on his own. 

He side-stepped a group of men who walked past him, tightening his hood. There was a bad feeling coming off of them and Sans’s instinct was never— 

“Hey, you. You think you can hide yourself like that?” One of them called.

Their gazes were on him, pricking him like pins and needles. 

“Take off your hood," they said. "We don't bite." 

He thought about his options. One would be to be listening to them, and then inevitably getting in a fight once they confirmed he was a monster. Two would be to ignore them, and then inevitably get into a fight because they weren't sure if he was a monster.   


He thought it through, really, he did.

This wasn’t his first confrontation with annoying humans. He tended to teleport, and rarely had a reason to go out these days, only doing it for his brother. Papyrus often went out for errands, and Sans had to always follow him and make sure no one made his brother’s life difficult. It’s led to a lot of broken bones, but fortunately none of his own. Normal (non-psychopathic) humans were hardly able to defend themselves.

“Hey monster, you listening?” They said. “Don’t you have any manners?”

Sans was no stranger to confrontation. In fact, he had seeked it out, so what sense did it make for him to be so tense?

His experience sharpened his blade too far, and it was now prone to cutting even him. His magic (the blade) was in tune with his emotions, and with the adrenaline-like feeling he had right before a confrontation, his emotions were almost always turbulent. 

And when he was at his most unstable, who else would arrive at the scene but you?

It was like a running gag at this point.

He inwardly cursed up a storm. He left the Underground because it was so cramped, yet somehow in this huge city he only manages to run into the current bane of his existence. He would even risk teleporting with his magic so volatile and getting himself stuck in a wall or concrete somewhere at this point if it meant he wouldn’t have to deal with you. 

You walked to the commotion and spotted some familiar faces. As for why you couldn’t mind your own business? You weren’t sure, but there was a strange feeling in your chest pushing you in that direction.

Kit was at the center of a small crowd as well as his best friend Rhett. You should have known those two were behind the commotion. Only they had the gall to interrupt people’s day to cause a scene. You knew the crowd would have been larger if it was anyone else; everyone already knew the two resident troublemakers.

Spotting you, Kit straightened, eyes gleaming with an unsettling amount of bravado. Sans narrowed his eyes at this development. 

“F/N, babe!” Kit ran a hang through his brunette locks, lips curling in what you were sure he thought was a charming smile. “Usually you walk away from me. What’s the occasion?”

You scoffed, crossing your arms. “Can you blame me? Today’s my only day off of the week and you always manage to pollute it.”

He put a hand over his heart, feigning a wound. You were unamused. He broke character and elbowed Rhett with a chuckle. “Oh, you’re so mean to me, sweetheart. I know that’s how you show your affection, though.” 

Sans didn't want a moment more of your stupid banter. He decided he didn’t care about being seen, he would just teleport. Except when he did, nothing happened.

His magic wasn’t working. 

Momentary panic took over him. Why wasn’t it working? He hadn’t done anything to his— 

The bond. 

His soul didn’t want to leave, he realized. Sans had categorized these humans as Danger, so when you arrived, you were automatically categorized as In Danger. Alphys's words rung in his skull. He couldn’t even leave you here, even though you were in no real danger.

You were with your own people. People that were belittling you with pet names. 

Sans knew that if he were a weaker monster, that human wouldn’t still be so chipper after the first pet name he used on you. He also knew that was the bond talking, and he would not let the bond talk over him.

He had missed whatever conversation was exchanged between you two.

“...since the last time I’ve seen you. I thought you would have gotten taller since our school days, sweetheart,” Kit teased. 

The nickname put a bitter taste in your mouth. The last person who called you that had tried to kidnap and traffick you. 

“I’m not your sweetheart. For the last time, stop calling me that,” you said. 

This would be the last time if Sans had— _wait, no. shut up, soul._

He forced himself out of his thoughts. In doing that, he finally noticed you were standing in front of him, creating a barrier between him and the men. Sans was beginning to sense a pattern of self-sacrificial stupidity from you.

It turned out he wasn’t the only one that noticed your placement.

“So are you going to explain why you’ve been blocking us from talking to that monster?” Kit asked, voice lowered.

“What are you talking about?” You tried to play dumb, but they didn’t buy it.

Kit narrowed his eyes, stepping forward. You didn’t budge. 

“Don’t tell me you’re seriously sympathizing with a goddamn monster!” He accused you, disgust lacing his words.

“Mind your own business,” you countered. “Seriously Kit, why are you two always causing trouble?”

Kit glare turned to Sans’s general direction. Mockingly, he said, “it looks to me like you really like trouble.”

He might have been onto something, you inwardly admitted. You had paused your errands when you heard the commotion, then when you saw Sans’s familiar hood, it was like your legs had a will of their own. He was an asshole, but he was an asshole that had saved your life, even though there couldn’t be a clearer definition of trouble than that.

Sans couldn’t help interjecting. “that human’s not wrong, kid. why don’t you take your own advice and mind your own business?” 

You couldn’t believe he’d go against you even when you were defending him from bigots. You rolled your eyes. 

“You’re an ass,” you grumbled.

His soul was split between overjoyed at seeing you again and pissed that you were around humans that didn’t recognize the bond. Sans himself (the rest of him, the _real_ him) felt a more righteous indignation at the fact that these two were targeting monsters, and if it hadn’t been him they found, it would have been a monster that wouldn’t be able to defend themselves. 

He should dispose of them before they cause problems for Paps or anyone Sans knew.

As if sensing his rising bloodlust, you pushed Kit gently but firmly back away from Sans.

Unfortunately, Kit interpreted the action incorrectly.

“You’re worried about that thing’s safety over mine?!” 

You were immediately on the defensive. “Don’t call him a thing, asshole!” 

“You know what the church says about monsters, F/N. They’re the same as demons.”

You scoffed. “Demons, Kit? Really?” 

“Yes, demons!” He shouted, catching the attention of some bystanders. 

“You’re crazy,” you said. 

At this point, Rhett had put a hand on Kit’s shoulder, trying to calm him down. “What do you want me to call them? They’re wearing our clothes, trying to blend in with us, but at the end of the day they’re abominations of nature.”

Your hands clenched into fists, but you bit your cheek to keep from decking him right then and there. 

“I’m sure you’re much more familiar with Satan than them,” you scathed.

You knew you shouldn’t stoop to his level, but that part of your conscience was easily overruled by the part of you that couldn’t stay silent in the face of injustice. Being the bigger person was not an option, not when you knew he would do worse than insult if there was the opportunity. 

“Calm down,” Rhett said, now with a hand on Kit’s elbow.

Kit shrugged him off. “Shut the fuck up, I am calm,” he groused.

“Dude, you’re making a scene,” you heard Rhett whisper.

Sans had been content to stand back and let you humans deal with whatever differences you had. He was preoccupied by the reemergence of his magic. It was there, thrumming underneath his bones like a boiling pot. His soul had been aching to attack that human boy ever since the first “sweetheart”, but wouldn’t allow Sans to use his magic to teleport out of there.

Not that he was bemoaning it. He was actually tempted to listen to his soul this time around, if for no other reason than that he was itching for a fight.

Your goal was to piss off Kit, and you had accomplished that in spades. The way he looked at you was somehow worse than how he had been looking at Sans. 

“Just move on before you embarrass yourself any further,” you said.

He was quick to get in your face. You could feel his breath fanning your cheek. 

“Alright. I’ll leave after that thing returns what it stole,” he said, voice low. “It’s been walking around the market for a while taking shit thinking no one’s paying attention. Rhett and I saw the whole thing.”

You turned to Sans. He met your questioning eyes with a deadpan stare. You don't know why you even tried to get an answer from him. You knew what this was about nonetheless.

“It looks like you’re harassing him for being a monster, not stealing,” You said pointedly. 

Sans inwardly sighed, muting the argument in front of him. This conversation was getting nowhere, yet here he was wasting his time by staying. If he couldn’t teleport home, he could walk there. Very slowly, but he had to start somewhere.

He had only taken a few steps before a vicious _slap_ reverberated his bones.

It happened faster than your eyes could keep up with. One moment you were holding your abused cheek, and the other you were gaping at the blood that splattered out of Kit’s hand when a bone rose from the ground and pierced it. 

You hadn’t noticed there was a crowd gathered until they screamed in fear and panic, dispersing at the speed of light. 

If you were shell-shocked, you couldn’t imagine how Kit felt with a chunk of his hand gone. He let out a choked sob, making the mistake to look at the empty, bleeding gap. His legs gave out.

Sans crouched down in front of him. “you uh, need a hand, bud?” He asked, but didn’t wait for an answer when he grabbed Kit by his injured hand.

You covered your mouth, now scared that if you made a noise, you would cause Sans to redirect his bloodthirst onto you.

Kit squawked in pain, using his other hand to pry the phalanges holding him in a vice grip, but to no avail. Sans, as if grabbing the wound wasn’t enough, shook his hand as if they were doing a handshake.

When he spoke, it sounded like the lightning you’d hear on stormy nights. 

“because **hole-ly** shit.”

A distinct, sharp pause.

“that was it. that was the joke. what? were you expecting something more **w-hole-some**?”

You felt light-headed. “S-stop,” you pleaded. 

He didn’t budge. “stop what?” His voice still had that bite that made you rethink about interrupting. “don’t you know that friends shake each other’s hands?

The only thought in your brain right then was that Sans was a monster in _every_ sense. You were naïve to think that he wasn’t that bad because he hadn’t left you for dead, because that had obviously been beginner’s luck. You wouldn’t survive another encounter with him.

Still, he saved your life. You were in his debt.

“I’m fine,” you said, your voice faltering. Then trying again, you continued with more courage, “this will only make things worse.”

He hadn’t made any move to acknowledge your words. You swallowed, ready to try again when he straightened. 

“let’s get this sorted out.”

Something changed in the air, but it was too late when you noticed. Sans was in front of you before you could blink. The lights in his eyes were shaking as if struggling to stay focused, simultaneously glaring at you yet through you. 

“you need… “ He halted, sounding strangled. “n-need to— urgh…” 

He gripped his skull roughly, gritting his teeth before looking at you again. His eyelights were on you again, shaking even worse than before.

“s-stay away from us, please, mate. not s-stable. not safe.” His voice was warmer now, sounding nothing like himself. It sounded like a plea. 

“I don’t understand,” you heard yourself breathlessly say.

Your brain was going a mile a minute. Us? Mate? You knew you were missing a huge chunk of the story, but you couldn't even begin to unravel it.

“go… go now, he’s— “

His eyelights suddenly stopped shaking, the hazy edges sharpening. His expression faltered in surprise before warping into a snarl.

“ _what did you do?_ ”

You couldn’t answer before he grabbed you by the neck. His cold phalanges lifted your feet off the ground, staying immovable even as you reflexively tried to pry them off. The sharp tips of his phalanges sunk into your skin as he applied pressure to your jugular. 

Your airflow was abruptly cut off. 

“I didn’t—achk!—” 

He tightened his grip. 

“you did something to me,” he accused, tone like poison. “what the fuck was it?”

Alarm bells were blaring in your head, warning you that you would lose consciousness very soon if he didn’t let up. You flailed in his grip, but a strange pressure on your body prevented you from moving. 

There was no hesitation in his eyes. There was malice and paranoia, and something you couldn’t figure out in your oxygen-deprived state.

“right, it’s not you,” he muttered. “it’s your damned soul. i’ll do you a favor then. once you’re dead, i’ll smash it to pieces, just in case it gets any more ideas.”

Your vision was swimming. 

Then you felt some of the pressure lighten. He faltered, his grin morphing into a grimace. You belatedly realize his grip was shaking. 

Your vision was disrupted by white splotches. A beat passed, then another. Instead of falling out of consciousness, your senses were slowly but surely clearing up.

You blinked, your brain catching up to the present as oxygen came back into your system. It felt like a veil was being lifted. You realized you were on the ground, cheek to cement.

You noticed too late that you were no longer being choked. Your fingers were half-numb, but you managed to push yourself up. You felt your neck, checking to see if it really was alright. A heavy feeling had come over you, but somehow you hadn’t blacked out. 

In front of you, Sans had collapsed on the ground face first. 

You instinctively backed up, when an oddly familiar clicking noise stole your attention.

“Don’t move!” An unfamiliar voice ordered. 

You turned to the voice. A squadron of police officers had surrounded you, guns raised and pointed in your direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, real talk, I'm pretty sure most of the people waiting have given up on this story, but I'm hoping the people who haven't will enjoy it. I read all comments but i don't reply to everyone bc i dont want to mess up comment count, but i reread your comments when i'm struggling with writing the chapter! thanks for reading and let me know what you think!


	4. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From bad to worse to...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've left my goblin cage at long last to bring you this chapter. Did it take too long? Possibly. Did it fight me every step of the way? Definitely. This story was a surprise quiche and I wasn't ready for the responsibility.

You lean your head on the tinted window of the police car. You couldn't find a comfortable position, but then again, it was hard to be comfortable when you were handcuffed and being escorted to the police station. 

Your eyes fell on the officer in the front seat, a middle-aged man with lines on his forehead that were at war with each other, and what could be considered a worm on his upper lip. "What happens after I get to the station?" You asked him.

He ignored you, and out of only pettiness, you persisted.

"I haven't done anything wrong," you said. 

The officer shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable at having to participate in conversation with you.

After a moment, he gave in. "You know you have the right to remain silent," he said.

You scoffed. "It's a little late for that, don't you think?" You raised your handcuffed wrists up for emphasis.

"Look, we all face consequences for our actions. If you keep company with a monster, this is what's gonna happen."

You fought the urge to roll your eyes. Were you going to get this lecture every time you even breathed near a monster? You could see why Sans talked about humans the way he did, not that he was justified, but... 

"Who I, a grown adult, choose to keep company with is nobody's business but my own," you snapped back.

You could see the twitch of his eyebrow. Your tone must have ticked him off. You waited to see if he would snap at you, but somehow he reeled it in, and only looked mildly annoyed at the end of it.

"Best not believe what that monster tells you about him'n his species," he said gravely. "To everybody on the outside, you was taking side with the aggressor."

Were you surprised at how Sans suddenly had become the aggressor after Kit had slapped you in the face first? Almost. You hadn't dwelled on that slap because he had already paid for it in spades, but it was like everyone else conveniently forgot about it as well. 

"The victim did slap me in the face first, unprovoked," you bit. He pursed his lips, but said nothing further. You weren't sure if he understood or not, but you knew you better than to instigate with an armed officer. 

Then finally, he broke through the silence with a grumble. "You'll take a monster's side over your own people."

You bit your cheek, trampling the urge to give him a piece of your mind. There was no getting through to people like him, who just wanted to antagonize something they didn't understand out of misplaced fear. You were going to unfortunately have to be the bigger person here and let the conversation drop. 

It hadn't been five minutes after you grudgingly closed your eyes that the radio buzzed to life, the voice on the line you recognized as the officer who was escorting Sans in the car beside you. He said something in police jargon, to which the officer in your car only agreed with, ending the call. 

You closed your eyes again, but this time you were jolted awake by the vehicle swerving wildly. Your head bounced onto the window a few times before you could use your elbows to right yourself. 

Before you could ask the officer what was happening, a loud screech came from the car beside you where Sans was being held in custody. You swallowed, looking through the windows expecting to see a mutilated officer. 

You saw that Sans was awake at last, but there was something odd on his face. You squinted. Was that… a

muzzle? 

They were treating him like a wild animal! You couldn't believe the audacity they had to muzzle him like a rabid dog. Whatever he gave them, they deserved (excluding death, but you could almost understand it at this point). 

Still, you thought with trepidation, if he was going to do something about it, did it really have to be right now when they were going 70 on the freeway? 

Instead of attacking the officer on the spot like you expected, you could tell that Sans was speaking to him instead. You were just about to feel guilty about assuming the worst, before the other police car made a violent swerve towards the grass. Whatever Sans had said to him definitely provoked that dangerous move, and you were inclined to believe that the officer was doing it to save himself from whatever Sans said to him. 

In the midst of that chaos, his gaze met yours. All thoughts went out the window, as well as Sans, who slammed his cuffs against the glass and shattered it. 

You watched with bated breath, unsure of what he was planning. 

Without the use of his magic (none that you could see, at least), he somehow managed to get on the roof of the car. From behind, several cars started honking and screeching as they either tried to slow down, or swerve away. 

The noise seemed to jolt some urgency into him. He looked back at you, strangely enough. His eyes were wide, too wide, when the car you were in began to zigzag. 

_ Shit _ .

You had been lost in the chaos, forgetting that you weren't just an onlooker. You hastily looked into the rearview mirror only to have your heart jump out of your chest. Several cars were barreling towards you at speeds that would easily topple your own vehicle over, and they showed no signs of slowing in time. 

Some foreign instinct forced you to look back at Sans. His expression was tense as he watched you. You would have wondered what he was thinking about so feverishly if you weren't moments away from death. 

He leaned on the heels of his feet, pulling his weight back, then launching forward off his car. You realized too late that he was falling towards you. You pushed yourself back as fast as you could, your back not even touching the other side before the windows shattered and he had grabbed you. 

Your eyes closed on reflex, expecting a painful collision with either the car door or the concrete, but neither came. Instead there was an unearthly tearing sound before you both fell vertically, and you forced open your eyes. 

The car you were both in became a distant scene as you fell into a black abyss. 

“grab onto me,” he said, tone constricted. It must have been hard to speak in this atmosphere. 

It looked like outer space, if outer space was filled with nothing but dread. Because of that, you had the urge to hold your breath but you stopped yourself from giving into it. It did feel tight in your throat to breathe, but it was still possible even though you don’t think there was any air.

Sans's words caught up with you. You let go of his jacket one hand at a time to wrap them around his neck, holding on for dear life. 

It must have been a painful hold, but he said nothing, only tightening his grip around your middle, his phalanges digging into your stomach. 

When he spoke again, it was full of urgency and with no room for argument. "no matter what happens, do not loosen your grip," he ordered. 

You swallowed and found that your throat was dry. "I-I wasn't planning on it," you managed to say, the sound of your voice being eaten by the void around you. 

He said nothing else, but you could feel him stiffen. The colored light in his eye appeared, signaling the use of his magic, but it was dim and shaking. 

He clenched his teeth, his large and sharp canines revealing themselves. You were surprised enough by them that you hardly noticed the tearing sound repeating.

You only noticed when the darkness was no longer pressing on you. Instead, you were surrounded by tall trees as you now were barreling towards snowy ground. 

In the abyss it felt like you would fall endlessly, but here you were well aware of the effects of gravity and impact. 

Then, as if an answer to your rising fear, the familiar heaviness of Sans's magic surrounded you. It felt insubstantial compared to how it held you before when he attacked you.

You weren't sure why he used it on you when Sans cursed under his breath. Out of nowhere he twisted out of your hold, shoving you away from him roughly. 

You reflexively reached for him but now he was too far away. Before the panic could set in, the magic around you became more substantial than before, though still nowhere near how you remembered it. 

It slowed your fall to the point that you could reposition yourself in mid-air. Sans's descent was twice as fast as yours, so it wasn't a surprise when he slammed into the snow, body disappearing deep inside a skeleton-shaped indent. 

His hand pushed out from the hole, finger guiding your direction as he lowered you to the ground. 

When you were only a few feet above ground, the magic broke and his hand fell back. You landed on the snow with a soft thud. 

For a second you sat there in confusion because this snow wasn't cold, it was room temperature even as it melted… before you remembered that Sans was buried underneath it. 

You called his name, but he didn't reply. "What the hell just happened?" You breathed, causing puffs of fog to come out of your mouth. 

Without another thought, you reached into the snow, sifting through until you felt his limp arm in your grasp. The snow melted on your hands and legs, but its temperature had yet to rise. You tried to focus on Sans instead of the unfamiliar setting.

Calling Sans familiar was truly indicative of how crazy your current situation was, you noted wryly.

He was lighter than you expected. Then again, you never held a human skeleton, so you didn’t have a comparison for monster skeletons. His body was too heavy to hold in its entirety, but you only had to sling his arm over your shoulder.

The most unnerving thing was that his eyes were closed. It struck you as odd now, since it made you think about how normally he never blinked, yet his eye sockets moved with human expression. It was something to think about as you tried to avoid full-blown panic navigating through this unfamiliar territory.

You didn’t know what to do but start walking. Only a bit away from your starting point did you notice footsteps in the ground.

You and Sans weren’t alone. 

They trekked in the opposite direction, and from what you can see there wasn’t an end in sight, so the perpetrator was far enough away to not alarm you. There were some that pointed back in your direction. It seemed like whoever it was, would be coming back around eventually.

You thought to follow these tracks in the case that whoever it was would be able to help you, but common sense told you that you weren’t in a place with logic and rules you were familiar with. If you met a monster while carrying an unconscious Sans, you weren’t sure if they would listen to your explanation.

You would do the safer thing and wait for Sans to wake. You didn’t want to, but you had to rely on him here. He’s already shown you once that he’s able and tentatively willing to protect you. Not that you needed to be protected in ordinary circumstances. It was just that whenever he was involved, there was no such thing as ordinary circumstances.

The only problem was that he was in restraints more elaborate than you’ve seen on the most high-risk felons. You had a feeling that it was no coincidence he started struggling with his magic after the restraints were on him. Taking them off, even his muzzle, seemed impossible. You’d cross that bridge when you got there.

Right now you needed a place to recuperate. Whatever path you were walking on seemed like the main road, and you were too visible. It was a stroke of luck that your eyes had been open during the fall here, and you had caught a glimpse of a cave. 

It hadn’t taken long to find it considering you had to walk through the thick, tall trees. The only difficulty was holding onto Sans with your handcuffs on, so he ended up bumping into those trees enough times for you to feel guilty for. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him… probably.

You’d made it to the cave without any confrontations. Common sense told you that where there were caves, there were bears and snakes. You’d chance it here, though. This place didn’t seem to follow common sense.

It looked shallow from the outside, so you only went in deep enough to escape the light from outside and plopped down in the shadows. You took a moment to rearrange his ragdoll body before setting him with a haphazard sitting position.

You took this moment of respite to make sense of this predicament. 

The overarching issue, in your mind at least, was that Sans had a  _ lot _ of explaining to do after he woke up.  _ If _ he woke up. A fall like that would have squashed a human. 

You tried to stay positive. He wasn't human, he probably survived. It's not like you could check his breathing or anything. 

It was his fault the police came, that the car accident happened, and that you fell through an abyss into a strange world with warm snow. Yet here you are, unharmed (aside for the bruises already forming on your neck) while he looked like he had been wrung through the wringer. 

For all his crazy mood changes, he made it difficult to hate him. You could tell that he did these crazy things with you in mind–

Or likely, the "bond" was the one with your best interests at heart. 

Sans himself was an absolute ass, a dick, a crude, rude, insane son of a–

But that was beside the point. 

What was important was that the bond kept you relatively safe from both him and possibly many other dangers. It was likely because you were his mate, whatever that meant. He had called you ‘kid’ many times before, but when he said mate, it sounded like you had some precedence in his priorities. Maybe you were overthinking it. 

You knew about mating from wildlife documentary channels, but you didn't want to compare monsters to animals. 

Instead of working yourself into a frenzy with theories, you needed to rest, but you couldn't fall asleep when the only other pair of eyes were already sleeping.

If he didn’t wake up before you got sleepy, you’d follow those footsteps on your own.

You found a rock on the ground and started scratching at the floor for lack of better things to occupy yourself with. The rock felt the same as any you've felt before, but looking closely, it seemed to produce a miniscule light. 

You knew rocks could glow, but this rock casted a tiny light on your hand. It was the second reminder that you were in a place that you couldn't comprehend in the least. 

You wanted to go home, but you'd be arrested. You had a hunch they already had your name down for resisting or escaping arrest, even though you were taken against your will.

And the beginning of that train of thought set you off. Your anger came suddenly and without origin, but you couldn't hold it back. 

"What did I do to deserve this? " You cried out even though he wasn't listening. "God, he saves my life once and suddenly he decides that he needs to end it!" 

You called him every name under the sun, cursed his ancestors, and only then did you relieve some of that steam. You didn’t realize how vast your vocabulary was until right then.

You paused realizing belatedly that you had been holding onto that rock the entire time and that it had cut you. A drop of blood oozed on your palm.

"you couldn't let me rest for even a minute, huh," Sans's tired voice came from beside you. 

You whipped your heads toward him. Had he been awake for long? How much had he heard? 

You were none the wiser that his consciousness came to the moment you cut your hand. He'd heard the majority of your colorful tirade, but wasn't as annoyed as he thought he'd be. That was new.

He found that he preferred you spitting insults down his bloodline (soul-line?) than when you cowered at him. Then again, exhaustion made it difficult for him to separate the bond emotions from his own, but he was too tired to care. 

On your side, you knew antagonizing your protector was not the route you wanted to go down. You turned and gave him a sheepish look that you weren't sure he was able to see in the darkness. 

"I guess you caught me… red-handed," you tried, inwardly cringing. Is this who you've become? Someone who makes puns? 

Surprisingly, that earned a snort from him. 

"let me see your hand," he said suddenly. You gave it to him, after a moment of being unable to find an excuse not to. He huffed. "the one that's injured, kid."

“I wouldn’t call it injured,” you said. “It’s like a papercut.”

You wondered how he even noticed it.

You could feel his gaze on your hand, and you had had the impression he would have been pressing on the cut if his hands weren't in that metal box. He seemed to realize that too when he let out an irritated sigh. 

"reach into my left pocket," he said. 

"If this is a come on…" You said, trailing off meaningfully. You knew better than to assume he would hit on you now— or ever— but it didn’t hurt to be safe.

You could see his eyes narrow in the darkness. 

"i'm not interested in  _ humans _ ." He said 'human' the way many would say 'dog shit' after they discovered it on their favorite pair of shoes. 

You opened your mouth against your better judgement. "You sure have a strange way of showing disinterest,”

For the second time, the anger he anticipated to bubble to the surface was absent. Something had changed, and he had a feeling it was because of the stagnant mana in the air, soothing his turbulent magic. 

Even if he wanted to instill in you reasons to refrain from snark with him, he couldn’t do anything in this state anyway. He noticed when he woke up that the restraints had cut off a lot of his magic. He had barely been able to teleport, and even then he only managed to haphazardly tear into the fabric of space and time instead of navigate it like usual. It tired him to the point that he lost the urge to choke you.

It was an urge he had gotten often, though sometimes the context would change. He blamed the bond.

You felt a little cheated after he gave no response to your provocation. You had planned to go off on a tirade on how this whole situation was his fault because he couldn't control his violent tantrums. You could just bring it up anyway, seeing that it was still very relevant, but that felt childish. 

"... there's a bandage in there," he said at last. 

"You could've started with that," you muttered as you reached into his pocket. 

You pulled out a bandage with a spaghetti pattern. You could tell it was made for children. Seeing as Sans didn’t find joy from anything, this must have been for Papyrus. 

"Do skeletons bleed?" You found yourself asking. 

"he likes to accessorize," came his idle reply. The 'he' in this case was probably Papyrus, but he was vague enough that you weren't sure. The mental image of that tall skeleton excitedly plastering the it on his face or clothing brought a smile to your face.

You chuckled to yourself as you put the bandage on. As bad as Sans was. there was something endearing about their bond, and how Sans seemed almost normal when he spoke about his brother. Almost. 

"So," you said, now that there was a lull in conversation, "could you explain what happened back there?" 

"i could," he said. 

You could hear his restraints clink against rock as he shuffled in the darkness. After it stopped, his eyelights disappeared from sight. 

Wait a second, was he going back to sleep?! 

"Why are your eyes closed? You said you'd explain!" You said, indignant. 

More shuffling. "mmm… no, i didn't." He'd rolled away from you judging by the sound of his voice. 

You take back every good thing you thought about him, if there was any to begin with. He was actually just insufferable. His volatile behavior usually overshadowed his general insufferability though he hadn’t shown signs of either ever since he had woken up. You hoped this lasted a while longer.

"Do you know where we are, at least?" You tried. 

It had taken him a minute to respond, but he did while somehow sounding both long-suffering and uncaring. "underground." 

"Wow, cool. Thanks. That tells me so much," you said, unable to keep the irritation out of your voice. 

"you're welcome." 

The Underground was a place of many, many turbulent emotions within Sans. Yet, this was where he knew. It was familiar territory, even though his most recent memories of it were heavily stained with blood and dust. Was he so far gone that those thoughts didn’t faze him? Why did he want them to?

Maybe he missed being a normal monster. Maybe he hated the fact that him being like this was proving those humans right. He was uncaring, unfeeling, unhinged, and too familiar with solving things through violence. 

He glanced at you by his side. For some reason, he didn’t sense any fear in you. Humans tended to be afraid of him, and he had given you plenty of reason to be scared, yet your soul was humming peacefully.

He wished you feared him. It’d make the dynamic easier on him. Hate and fear were familiar territory after all. 

Then again, the bond must have affected you stronger here like it did to him. Hypothetically, it made sense. Monsters were composed of magic, and the Underground was overflowing with it. He didn’t like being reduced to just his soul, but realistically here he was only a magical soul encased by a sack of monster.

Since his mind was no longer piloting, things that his soul cared about took precedence. Things like the damn bond. There was no point in being upset over it, because he, like every monster, knew that the soul was the core of their existence and not something they could fight against. Hell if he wouldn’t try, though.

“What do we do now?” You asked, breaking him out of his thoughts. 

Right, you weren't just a random human. You were his bond partner, his soulmate, and the other half of his soul once this bond was completed— not that he would let it. His soul urged him to treat you the way soulmates treated each other, as if Sans had the slightest fucking clue of what that was. He just needed to deal with you until you both got out of the Underground and he could force Alphys to help him break the bond.

Without these restraints, he would have been able to teleport the both of you out of the Underground. Since he was here, his magic was stronger than it was on the surface. It’d only be a matter of time before he could gather enough to break through these restraints. He’d never done something like this before but he had a feeling it would work. He just didn’t know how long it’d take.

“walk,” he concluded.

You stared at him for a long second before voicing your thoughts. "Why does it seem like you have an explanation for everything but answer like that to piss me off?" 

He hadn’t explained a single thing since he had woken up even though you had been one more mishap away from a full blown breakdown. 

The sides of his mouth pull upwards. You were sharper than he thought. 

"must be your imagination," he said, shrugging and hiding his amusement. 

You had to take a moment to process this new behavior of his. He was sarcastic and curt like usual, but normally these traits were buried far underneath him being threatening and erratic. Now it seemed like while he was rude, he no longer actively wanted you dead. 

You couldn't believe you were glad about this development. The bar really was rock bottom. 

No, now was not the time to psychoanalyze Sans. You needed to get home and fast before people started to notice you were missing. It was too late to do anything about the arrest thing, you'd just beg for leniency when you tell them you were taken against your damn will. 

"are you gonna continue to make weird faces and curse me out in your mind, or are you gonna start walking?" Sans asked, his restraints clinking as he rose. 

He can see in the dark. Noted. 

He knew you were cursing him out internally. Also noted. 

You had nothing to respond to that, besides pointedly not looking at him, so you got up and matched your steps to his. 

Meanwhile, Sans tried to activate his magic, only to find it muffled out by the restraints just as he expected. The muzzle on his face however didn't seem like it served any magical use. They must have expected him to bite them like a rabid animal. 

That was a fair assumption. 

Since his magic was only restrained, not diminished, he wasn't too worried. Trying to use his magic in spite of the restraints depleted it at an astronomical rate, so he would give up on that for now. 

While he did rely on his magic in daily life and combat, he was also very agile. Most sane living creatures wouldn't approach him in the first place, and the Underground was empty, but he was overly cautious. 

He was essentially babysitting a human now. If you were anything like the humans who had fallen into the Underground before, you should be able to defend yourself on your own, but he'd rather not take that chance. It'd be easier on him if you just stayed out of the way should anything actually come. 

"I feel like whatever you're thinking right now is going to make me angry," you said, cutting through his train of thought. 

He knew that was because of the bond, but it was irritating that you were able to read him so well. Meanwhile all he had gotten from your thoughts was anger and annoyance, and both were directed at him. You were probably still cursing him out. 

"you talk too much," he said. 

You scoffed, but weren't surprised. "This coming from Papyrus's brother?" 

His jaw tightened with an urge to impose on you why you shouldn't ever talk about his brother like that, or  _ at all _ , when you continued speaking, unaware. 

"Well, it's no wonder when he lives with a brick wall like you. At least he has charm," you grumbled meanly. 

You weren't sure what was giving you the guts to insult him, but you knew you were pushing it. Still, he deserved every bit and worse, and if he retaliated against you, you also deserved it. You were hoping he’d start being awful again so you wouldn’t have any chance to see him positively. You were going down a slippery slope as it was.

Your life was so simple just a few hours ago. 

But oddly enough, Sans didn't react to your insults. He only shrugged, a faraway look in his eyes. 

"he's the coolest," he said matter-of-factly. 

You faltered, unsure what to say to that. You decided to just go with the safe answer and agree. "He is, unlike you. You aren't cool at all." 

"right," he agreed, unfazed. 

"Hey, you're not supposed to agree," you complained. "Now I feel like a bad person." 

He sighed in annoyance and stopped walking, turning to face you. You paused. "then what?" He asked, taking a step forward. 

You had the urge to back up, but stopped yourself. "What?" You said dumbly. 

Another step. There was a shift in the air. In the dim light you could only see his eyes and his silhouette. Yet, somehow you could tell what expression he wore and that you'd seen it before. The urge to flee rose in priority in your mind as he closed the distance. 

"you said it yourself, kid." He was only an arms-length away from you. "i'm not cool." 

When he moved forward this time, you backed up, only for your back to hit the wall. Fight or flight hit you suddenly, and you were struck by the realization that you could do neither. You were a sitting duck. 

"if i'm not cool…" He was close enough now that the only thing he could do was lean forward, and he did. There was no breath fanning your neck, but goosebumps ran down your back nonetheless. "tell me, what am i?" 

Your brain short-circuited. "Uh—well, I don't… understand the question…" 

He was too close. If you moved an inch, your chest would be flush against his. So you forced yourself still, because any contact was unnecessary contact. Especially with the way your heart leapt in your chest. 

His eyes met yours. There was something dark in them, but in a way that made your knees weak. 

He huffed a half-hearted laugh. You could feel the rumble of it in your stomach. You had unfortunately been reminded of what his voice did to you when he was this close.

"now i'm curious," he said, slowly. "what's got you so flustered, kid?" 

Your mouth felt dry so you swallowed. His eyes followed the movement of your throat, and you were quickly becoming dizzy with the implications. 

His restraints and muzzle prevented him from inching forward any more unless they prodded you. You were struck by the notion that these restraints were the only thing that stood in between him, you, and these dizzying implications. 

"i can see your soul, you piece of work,” he said lowly.

You weren’t sure exactly what that entailed, but you knew it was something to be embarrassed about. You averted your eyes, but he didn’t notice or care. His attention was still at your neck. You wondered what he was thinking as he stared at it, and your mind was brought back to how sharp and large his canines were. 

Oh god, as if this wasn’t bad enough, now you were having a weird kink awakening…

Your breath hitched as cold metal touched your neck. You pressed back against the wall, but you were flush against a rock and a… 

No, no, no, this was so wrong! You pressed your hands on his chest, pushing him back. 

It jolted him back to reality, the glaze leaving his eyes. They widened, taking you in like you were a ghost. 

“You’re insane,” you breathed, mind reeling.

He laughed suddenly, but the sound was hollow and wounded, and his hand was pressed against his skull. He backed away like you were poisonous, leaving a wide berth between you two. “if only,” he breathed, his browbone furrowed.

You could tell he was retreating back into himself. Experience told you there were only two ways that would end. Either he would leave or he would snap. Your mind was finally catching up, and you knew you had to divert his attention. If he snapped like this, you might not be so lucky to escape unscathed. You had to distract hi.

“Sans, we— “

  
And then you were cut off by a thunderous roar. “ _ I know you’re here somewhere, Sans… Come out and face me, you damn murderer! _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Big announcement! My fellow Sans stan derpychocho from twitter has finished her dating simulator starring everyone's favorite skeleton! Please please check it out, for your own good lolol. here's the link! https://derpychocho.itch.io/dating-start
> 
> BUT WAIT, BEFORE YOU DATE SANS>>>>
> 
> Okay I've accepted the reality that people are actually reading this story lol. If you could, please leave some feedback. After staring at the same draft for the 100th time in a row makes it hard for me to see what you guys are seeing. Is it interesting? Is it fun to read? I know it's definitely not a slow burn, but I'm indulging myself during times like this ;). Every time i finish off I think I'll have the next part done soon, but i think that's a curse, so i won't say that this time. Welcome back repeat commenters and kudos-ers, you guys are the 3rd coolest right behind some supremely cool skeletons :>

**Author's Note:**

> *rose-colored soul is between red and pink and its filled with... dedication!


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